I Forget What C Was For
While I would never ask specifically to re-live college, I must admit that my sophomore year was a metric ton of fun. And, if I’m being brutally honest, a good portion of it was because your very own Aunt Becky had moved in down the hall.
This would have been apropos of nothing, except that her roommate, It Means Butterfly, was all “Ooh, sure you can smoke in here!” and then she was all “Just kidding, I hate you!” and so Becky would spend a lot of time smoking having deep and academic discussions in my dorm room while spending every waking moment stealing my beer.
As an aside, I wish I could tell you that she was exaggerating the roommate stories (she’s posted them here, here, and here), but she’s not. I would be the first one in line to call her out for such exaggerations, but not only is Becky not exaggerating, that bitch broke my bubble chair. TWICE.
It’s because of all that smoking deep and meaningful conversation that I have been asked to tell you about the time we managed to put our hands on some fake IDs and headed to the local bar had such deep and meaningful academic conversation that we stayed up all night learning.
OK, I’m not fooling anyone. I’ll drop the act.
So, as Becky mentioned (here), she met our friend J the first week or so of college and developed a small crush on him. J was an RA on another floor in our building, and through some miracle, he was the only RA with common sense and decided not to bust the freshman on his floor who was selling fake IDs. I think it had to do with the laws of supply and demand: this kid had a supply, and J had two friends who had a demand.
J hooked us up with two fake IDs. Actually, this is a misnomer: they were real, honest-to-goodness, State of Illinois IDs. It just so happened that the IDs in question were not our IDs.
All things considered, Becky’s ID wasn’t that bad. The woman in the picture resembled her in as much as her current ID resembles her (which is to say only sort of), but she was about the right height, about the right weight, and yes, the ID said that she was in her 30s (we were 19), but it wasn’t that egregious an error and really, we were only going to the local bar. If we’d had a sheet of paper that said “SRSLY, I’Z B 21!” they probably would have let us in.
My ID, on the other hand, resembled me only in the sense that the woman in the picture – a woman with an unpronounceable Greek name – had long dark hair. At the time, I also had long dark hair. The ID said that I was in my late 30s (I can pass for older), that I was 5’2″, and 120lbs. I am 5’10” in flats and I usually wear 3″ heels.
I would kill to be 120, but I haven’t seen 120 since I was in jr. high. The icing on this ID cake was that the woman in the ID had brown eyes, and my eyes are not brown. It was only because we were going to the local bar and the local liquor store that the IDs were worth anything at all.
Best of all, the IDs only cost us $20 and we didn’t have to go down to 26th and California to get them. For those of you not from Chicago: in 1999, you did not want to go down to 26th and California. Just trust me here.
And so, it was because of these totally glamorous and completely valid (ha!) IDs that Becky, J and I ended up at the local college bar every Wednesday night.
Yes, to have long, deep, and meaningful academic conversations. Certainly not to drink underage! Oh, no, not us.
In an effort to look more like our IDs, we would don our sluttiest bar outfits, our 3″ heels, and break out every stitch of makeup we owned between the two of us. Now, I never let J do my makeup, but Becky, who has issues saying ‘no’, gave in and allowed J to do her makeup.
After an hour or so of careful consideration and conjecture on which shade of eye shadow went best with Becky’s outfit, Becky would emerge from her dorm room looking, well, like a tranny who just finished Theatre Makeup School.
J, proud of himself, would ask for compliments and I would say things like “Wow! You don’t look like a hooker!” and we would walk to the local bar and get our drink on.
Our motives were clear: Becky wanted to get away from It Means Butterfly, who would never join us in any kind of adventure (she once interrupted a date I was on to see if I could fix her computer. True story.). J wanted to convince himself that he was straight by hanging out with two beautiful women. I was majoring in English Literature, which, if you don’t know, means that I am destined to develop a drinking problem.
Here’s the problem with my drinking problem: I can hold my liquor.
Here’s the problem with my drinking problem, coupled with being Italian: not only can I hold my liquor, I’m fucking good at pushing it on everyone else.
Here’s the problem with my drinking problem, plus being Italian, plus being out with Becky and J: Becky and J are lightweights.
Light. Weights. As in, “Here, sniff this! Oh, whoops, let me roll you home.”
After a round or two of drinks, when J would be asking me whether or not I had planned on attending my 8:00 Poli Sci class, I would start singing “C is for Cookie!” and convince both Becky and J to have another round with me. And not that pussy rum and coke shit, either, dude. Seriously, what is that crap? Bartender! We need dirty martinis!
The problem with my drinking problem is that I never learned and when 2:00am rolled around and I decided that there were only six hours between me and a Poli Sci class where the gross guy who sat behind me hit on me relentlessly (yay), I would round up Becky and J and tell them that it was time to stumble home.
Stumble, of course, was a relative term. I could still walk in my 3″ heels just fine. Becky and J, however, could usually no longer stand.
The three block walk back to our dorm was much like trying to herd cats. I would literally push Becky and J toward our dorm (sometimes through 2′ of snow, and yes, still in heels), and then run to get in front of them to stop them before they would walk out into a street. The two of them were ra-dick-you-lus, stumbling, tripping (but never puking), and singing “C is for Cookie!” with me at the top of their lungs.
It was obnoxious and cute in the bar when I did it. It was not so cute when the homeless guys drinking 40s took one look at us and saw that we had neon signs screaming “EASY TARGET” flashing over our heads.
(Seriously, the fact that we survived college in and of it self deserves a diploma. I digress.)
Yeah, you disagree? Well, due to the magic of You Tube, I can give you a glimpse into exactly how obnoxious we were:
Yup, that was us. Drunk, decked out for the bar, and singing Sesame Street.
Oh, yeah, why “C is for Cookie!”, you ask? Because that’s what I managed to squeak out in PoliSci.
Oh.My.God! You fucking bitch. It has taken 5 years to get that song out of my head (my kiddoes are 8) whenever I am driving and don’t have the radio blaring. Whenever I am in quiet time, whenever I try to fall asleep. That song is my nemesis. And it was GONE! Until right NOW!!!
I am going to get locked up. They are coming to take me away.
WTF is that emoticon? 8) 8 ) The number 8 with a close paren was what I was going for. At least I know how to do a sexy smile now lol.
Dammit, you sucked me in! I thought I was going to see the REAL Aunt Becky and Pashmina. And ditto Melissa. That song is in my head now. What’s your phone number? I call you and sing it to you over and over. 😉
Great story. Makes me glad I was a bit of a teetotaler in college.
And, hey, a C is average. Congrats!
*sigh* Nobody ever painted ME up to look like a tranny hooker. I’m going to go sulk with my unicorn.
there is NOTHING on the planet quite like a good friend.
I’m not clicking that fucking video link.
Omigosh, you have been full of The Awesome FOREVER, haven’t you???
I’m 5’10” and have never worn 3″ heels. Maybe I should try that before I die, huh?
I’ve also never been made up to look like a tranny, but I don’t think I’ll try that one. 😉
The fact that you squeaked out a C in polysci despite your Wednesday night shenanigans only emphasizes how damn smart you are, ya know.
All I can say is: it’s a bloody good thing we didn’t go to college together. Seriously. You would have had me in all kinds of trouble since I’m lighter than a lightweight when it comes to booze and am also a very amendable drunk. I’d be in trouble…
Actually, now I’m kind of sad that we didn’t go to college together…
Dude, 26th & California was for lightweights (i.e. suburbanites :)). Madison & Pulaski was where the real action was! That’s where I got my fake ID. It was quite an adventure.
OMG! too damn funny. Even at my sluttiest I could never do 3″ heels. My attempts at it always ended up with my walkig home barefoot in all sorts of weather
It’s just a crying shame they didn’t have a karaoke stage… And video…
I kind of wish I’d gone to college with you guys…my years were much less exciting than that.
This brought back such fond college memories… Like how Monday was penny draught night, and I had to open the coffee shop at 7am on Tuesday. I was such a trooper!! And our mantra in college was “C’s get Degrees!”
Love it! I have a Cookie puppet and can do his voice, and Elmo too. One day I am going to crack and I am not going to know who I am. I will just start doing voices.
I’ve already called my oldest daughter, “Emily” which is her name in my blog, not in real life.
She is loving me for that one.
And BTW, I titled my post after you today because The Butt Sex check was the best post ever and I needed to tell everyone to read it and thank you for making me laugh over and over on a realy difficult day.
Oh, the drunken singing. Yup, been there. It’s a miracle any of us made it through college.
College was an extension of high school.
In high school I hung out with my BFF in her basement listening to Air Supply and doing lame-ass “glamor” photo shoots and slow dancing with pillows sprayed with our boyfriends cologne in the dark.
Yeah. If only I was kidding.
God, I am a loser.
I thought C was for credit? Then again, there’s no fun song to sing at the top of your lungs stumbling home from the bar drunk off your ass called “C is for Credit, that’s good enough for me.” Yeah. Definitely doesn’t work.
Fuck, C is for Cookie is going to be the death of me.
I liked college. I guess. I mean, I don’t really remember college, but it was okay. I guess.
When I read the title “I Forget What C Was For”, I got a completely different song in my head…Kiss Off by Violent Femmes……..8, 8 8, I forget what 8 was for….
*sits by Rebecca*
I have that same Violent Femmes song in my head.
i spent my formative years 15 – 25 looking like a tranny hooker.
it paid off in the drinking department.
This should make me so grateful that I didn’t party like that in college. However, what it does is make me wish I had! Is that wrong?
I used to have 4″ heels!!!! And I drank when I wore them. Never did fall down. Didn’t go to College either. That was in the ’80’s so plenty of bad make-up.
When I saw the title for this blog I thought C stood for Caesarian . . . Crotch parasite?
Oh but Gaylin.. Have you ever had one of those chicken cutlet bra insert things fall out of your bra and bounce on the floor while drunk at a bar? While hugging a hot guy no less?
I’m quite fond of the Oscar Meyer Weiner Song. However, I am aware that in no state of drunkenness is it ever cute… but it’s fucking fun.
“C” is for CUT A BITCH. I hate you for showing that video. But you make up for it by making me laugh until I piss myself. For that? Thank you. For the piss stain on the chair? I hate you.
We did many stupid things like this, but never sang C is for Cookie. My fake ID said I was 5’10”, and I am only 5’7″, so I wore 3 inch heels all the time…I only fell once, but injured myself so bad the one time I had to have 2 surgeries…3″ heels and ice, are not friends.
Oh thank goodness you sang one of the classics. If it had been Elmo’s Song, you never would have made it out of the bar alive.
C is for College. Oh, how I miss those care-free college days. Of course I don’t miss being broke like in college, but I’m broke now anyway … so WTH.
Anyway, just letting you know I wrote a little ditty on you on my blog. Pop over and see it when you get a chance. Of course, it’s not like getting the “Funniest Blog” award at BlogHer or anything … 😛
Holy awesomeness, Batman! I can’t wait to hear more of your college stories- and I totally have to go read about It Means Butterfly. LOL.
I am suddenly missing those college drinking fests…I was a lightweight too, but I never let it stop me. C is for can we please go back in time now?
that is EXACTLY what we did in college! seasme street song and all!!!!